Canada to phase out door-to-door mail in urban areas

Dec. 12, 2013
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A Canada Post employee delivers mail and parcels to residential homes in Toronto on Wednesday. / By Nathan Denette, AP

by Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY

by Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY

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The Canadian postal service is taking heat for announcing Wednesday that it plans to phase out door-to-door mail delivery in urban areas over the next five years.

Critics say the plan that also includes the losses of 6,000 to 8,000 jobs and increased prices for stamps will adversely affect the poor, the disabled and seniors. They also take issue with the fact that Canada Post made the announcement one day after Parliament recessed for the holidays.

"These job-killing and service-cutting measures will isolate seniors, the poor and the disabled living in urban areas," Olivia Chow, a member of the New Democratic Party of Canadian Parliament, told the National Post. "The Conservatives waited until the House had risen to deliver this lump of coal to Canadians. Canadians deserve better," she said.

Defenders of the plan meanwhile say the moves are necessary to help support the agency, beleaguered just like its neighbor to the south, with financial losses caused by a decreased use of postal services.

Transport Minister Lisa Raitt has said the the postal service faced $104 million in losses in the second quarter, according to the CBC.

The news organization also reports that Canada Post revenue dropped $20 million in the first three quarters of this year compared with the same time period last year.

"The Government of Canada supports Canada Post in its efforts to fulfill its mandate of operating on a self-sustaining basis in order to protect taxpayers, while modernizing its business and aligning postal services with the choices of Canadians," Lisa Raitt said in a news release.

The changes are part of a Five-Point Action Plan that Canada Post published on its website that it says will help with "giving Canadians the postal service they need in the emerging digital economy."

"With the increasing use of digital communication and the historic decline of letter mail volumes, Canada Post has begun to post significant financial losses," the agency said in a press release. "If left unchecked, continued losses would soon jeopardize its financial self-sufficiency and become a significant burden on taxpayers and customers."

The group of Canadians losing door-to-door service make up one-third of Canadian households who still receive their mail in this way. The other two-thirds already receive their mail through community mailboxes, which operate similarly to post office boxes at U.S. post offices.